One Beautiful Video Shatters Society's Stereotypes About Gay Families

In the case of Kordale and Kaleb, the gay black couple whose Instagrampicture of them doing their daughters' hair went viral last year, pictures say so much more.

The Atlanta, Georgia, couple, along with their three kids, is back in the headlines after being featured in a touching new video as part of Nikon's I Am Generation Image campaign. The sweet video is only two minutes long but continues the family's tradition of challenging ideas about both gay men and black families.

The All-American Family: The video introduces us to Kordale and Kaleb's children, Desmiray, Malia and Kordale Jr., and their dog, Pebbles. From getting ready for school to playing at the park, this modern collection of Kodak moments proves the image of the American family has changed a lot since the 1950s. What remains the same, however, is the emphasis on what makes a family: love, respect and care. As Kordale puts it, "Parents that can get up at 5:30 a.m. and do their daughters' hair, no matter who they are — That is a family."

What Kordale and Kaleb's original Instagram photo, as well as their new Nikon video, demonstrate is the power of image. The images they share of their family are raising visibility about what it means to be black, what it means to be a black gay man, and what it means to be a black gay family man, all at the same time.

"I think this camera, as we grow and as the family grows, will better be able to explain to everybody what type of family we are," Kaleb explains. "We as parents bring kids into the world, and we have to guide them to be better people than we are, and we want them to be better people than we are. We want them to succeed and do things that we weren't able to do. Those kids have our heart."

The new "normal": Kordale and Kaleb challenge what it means to be "normal" by living outside the boxes people try to push them into. Kordale says it best: "We just want people to know that we're normal, and you can't judge people on their 'normal.'"

Dr. Marcie Bianco is a Staff Writer at Mic, a Contributing Editor at Curve Magazine, and an adjunct associate professor at Hunter College. She has contributed to AfterEllen, Feministing, The Feminist Wire, The Huffington Post, Lambda Literary, XO Jane, and The Women’s Review of Books. She writes and lectures about ethics, from feminism to race relations. Her current writing projects include a manuscript about lesbian academic affairs and a collection of feminist essays.